Lovely easy listening tunes, liked this one a lot. Stevies voice was lovely as ever but my favourite parts were the gospel inspired backing vocals which provided some nice texture to the songs they appeared in and elevated this to the next level.
FT: Heaven Is 10 Zillion Light Years Away
Rating: 4/5
It’s hit and miss for me (but a lot more hit that miss), some tracks I love like Unfinished Sympathy & Hymn Of The Big Wheel but there’s a few I don’t care for much. I’m not a huge fan of rapping so those tracks didn’t land for me as much even though I did like all the instumentals, all in all though a pretty good listen and I can say that I did enjoy.
FT: Unfinished Sympathy
Rating: 4/5
Starts off with a bang (Seven Nation Army) but then loses it’s way immediately after and fails to recover fully other than a few highlights towards the later half of the album. Black Math & Little Acorns to me are truly awful songs, the high pitch electric guitar is far too loud in the mix throughout the album, it hurts my ears, sounds amateurish, lacks nuance, and along with the drum cymbals makes everything sound really washy & muddy in the more heavier rock tracks.
That aside I did enjoy a few other tracks from this album which save it from a really bad score and happen to be the more mellow/acoustic tracks (such as ‘In The Cold, Cold Night’, ‘I Want To Be The Boy….’, ‘It’s True That We Love One Another’). I gave it 5 tries to see if my opinion improved, but the more I heard the more I disliked.
FT: In The Cold, Cold Night
Rating: 2/5
Some albums take me a few listens to appreciate, but I immediately liked this from the first listen, I’d never heard the album before other than Sultans Of Swing. The guitar interplay with the vocals & drums is simply beautiful with just enough variety from track to track to keep it interesting.
That being said upon repeated listens I found it to be a decent album, but not among the greatest. Sultans Of Swing which I would rate a strong 5/5 remains by far the best track here and elevates this album up a level, there are some other memorable tracks for me such as Wild West End, Six Blade Knife & Down To The Waterline which are also pretty good but there’s also a couple of forgettable ones in there too which stop this from being a 5/5 album.
FT: Sultans Of Swing
Rating: 4/5
Absolutely timeless, I find it incredible that this was recorded in 1966. The sounds are so masterfully crafted it’s just bliss to listen to.
FT: I’m Waiting For The Day
Rating: 5/5
Very fun album, I originally rated this a 4 but I have been listening to it more recently and I have to say that it’s really grown on me and I’m updating my rating to a 5 because there’s just wall to wall great songs here that are very memorable, the second half of the album especially is great and finishes strongly.
I had heard ‘Alright’ many times but never explored this album before, my favourite track is ‘Sofa (Of My Lethargy)’ as I think it has the most diverse instrumentation of any of these and has some great hooks.
FT: Sofa (Of My Lethargy)
Rating: 5/5
Sweet grooves, soulful singing & great vibes from start to finish, a very relaxed listen. One for a chilled sunday morning.
FT: Happy Feelin’
Rating: 4/5
It’s okay, I listened a few times and had some fun with it. The sound palette is pretty small and therefore makes a lot of the songs sound very similar, but I suppose that’s to be expected with something that released in 1956.
FT: Oh, Marie
Rating: 3/5
I only just had Elephant 5 days ago or so and I didn’t really like that much and only really liked a couple of songs from it, this one I have to say is better.
I’m discovering that overall I’m not a huge fan of The White Stripes considering I had been pretty neutral on them before starting on this project, in fact I quite like Seven Nation Army and expected more like that. But I’ve come to the conclusion that had they not struck gold with that song they wouldn’t have nearly the same hype around them that they did, especially not to have multiple albums on a list of ‘must hear’ albums.
I did enjoy this a lot more than Elephant though and there’s a couple of decent songs here, my favourite being Forever For Her.
FT: Forever For Her (Is Over For Me)
Rating: 3/5
Cmon guys it’s not that bad. Just a guy singing about gang bangs, somehow not at all ripping off a guy singing about hound dogs, which could also be somehow relevent to this…? Secret masterpiece?
In all seriousness I actually thought some of the instrumentation was quite good and found the lyrics pretty funny.
TLDR: It’s actually probably shit, but I also enjoy it for some reason.
FT: Gang Bang
Rating: 3/5
Very solid album, I hadn’t heard any of the songs from this before but I knew it would be decent coming from a band known for their consistency in songwriting. Thoroughly enjoyed.
FT: Lodi
Rating: 4/5
It’s alright, it doesn’t really know whether it wants to be 90s house or pop and doesn’t really excel in either genre in my opinion. Perhaps though it’s just not my cup of tea or maybe I need a few more listens to get it, but I don’t think it’s bad by any means.
FT: Swim
Rating: 3/5
I really enjoyed this, it’s very fun and sounds like guys just having a good time jamming. The title track is absolutely iconic and never gets old, the others are all covers which is fine but the lack of original material is what stops it being a 5/5.
FT: Green Onions (Obviously)
Rating: 4/5
I can see why it’s on this list in terms of foundation for different styles of rock, but I found it painfully boring at times. I suppose it’s just not my thing, some tracks were okay though.
FT: Little Doll
Rating: 2/5
I think this is the most unique album I’ve got on this list so far, definately not a style of music I have really listened to before or have actively seeked out and therefore I have nothing really to compare it to which makes it quite hard to give a rating. I did enjoy the instrumentation a lot but I do find it slightly difficult to connect with music where I don’t understand the language of the lyrics, but I have to say I’m surprised at how much I did like it.
FT: Soko Yhinka
Rating: 3/5
I try not to give a 5 often, but this absolutely rocks. coming from someone who hasn’t listened before.
FT: Thank You
Rating: 5/5
Great guitar riffs, nice basslines & catchy vocals.
Just classic rock & some iconic songs, it’s hard not to like.
FT: The Boys Are Back In Town
Rating 4/5
American Pie is great, but then the rest is alright but meanders a little without many stand out moments.
FT: American Pie
Rating: 3/5
Not feeling this one, it’s pretty boring actually due to the fact it’s really poorly mixed and lacks the sonic quality to grab my ear. The mix is just as important as the songs themselves.
FT: Plants and Rags
Rating: 2/5
I like this one, there’s a couple of very big hits in here & It paved the way for one of my favourite ever albums (Sister Sledge - We Are Family).
FT: Savior Faire
Rating: 4/5
